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Lotus Racing Launch New Evora GTC

10:04:00 AM

Flared wheel arches, more rubber, less weight, and new technologies
have added extra spice to Lotus' race winning Evora, the GT4 Enduro. The
new GTC licks the Evora's performance envelope, delivering more speed
and increased grip.

Having been honed on Lotus' Hethel Test Track, the car has already
found its first customers. McMahon Raceworks with Condor Motorsport has
just placed an order for their Evora GTC, and will enter it in America's
Grand-Am road races, the Rolex Sports Car Series. The team led by David
McMahon with Armando Trentini as lead driver and consultant, spent two
days this week getting familiar with the machine on the ragged edge at
Lotus Headquarters.

Meanwhile, Team Bullrun's Evora GT4 will be converted to GTC-spec in
June. Raced by British drivers Richard Adams, David Green and Martin
Byford, Bullrun's Evora has proved phenomenally competitive in the 2012
Britcar MSA Endurance Championship and currently leads the standings.

The engine and gearbox of the GT4 Enduro are carried over to the GTC,
but the car has been on a diet. Carbon-fibre doors, roof and engine
cover have replaced fiberglass panels, and Plexiglass replaces the
windows in order to trim yet more weight off what is already a very
light car. At 1,130-1,140kg, depending on customer specification, the
GTC is 30kg lighter than the Enduro.

It's not all take-away. Traction control and BOSCH racing Anti-Lock
Brakes system have been added to optimize power delivery and braking
control. With England being particularly damp for the past month,
serious testing of the GTC has taken place in the wet where the car's
intelligent traction control and ABS have come to the fore. A definitive
comparison test will be conducted shortly, but already it has proved to
be faster than the previous evolution.

The wheels and tyres are wider which not only gives the car more grip
through the curves, the front and rear wheels rise to 18x10Js and 12Js
respectively, mated to 27/65-18 tyres at the front and 30/65-18s at the
rear..

In order to accommodate the wider wheels, flared arches have been fitted, which give the car a more aggressive silhouette.

Its 4-litre V6 continues to pump out 450bhp and 460Nm of torque, linked to an XTRAC six-speed sequential paddle-shift gearbox.

As well as the MSA Endurance Series and Grand-Am GTC (undergoing
homologation), the car is eligible for the British GT Championship, VdeV
Series, Dutch Supercar, and CREVENTIC Endurance Races, such as the
Dubai 24 Hours and the 12 Hours of Bathurst. (All subject to
confirmation)

Louis Kerr, senior motorsport engineer, Group Lotus: "The GTC is
faster than the GT4 Enduro even though the powertrain remains the same.
We've managed to reduce the weight, and added ABS and traction control.
Wider wheels mean customers now have a much greater level of traction
and selection of tyres they can use, the flared wheel arches accommodate
this, which gives the car its visual definition and makes it look more
muscular without hampering the aero."

Claudio Berro, director of Lotus Racing: "The Evora's development and a
front-row racing car is achieving its performance targets and the GTC
is an evolution of a car that has already taken wins on the track – the
GT4 Enduro. Last month Team Bullrun took victory at Silverstone in the
Britcar endurance championship with a GT4 Enduro that benefitted from
GTC development parts, and the team's upgrade will be completed in June
when there's an appropriate lull in their racing schedule. The car's
weight-saving and improved grip and braking abilities should help
increase the gap between them and the teams chasing them in the
championship. We're very pleased to welcome McMahon Raceworks to Lotus
ownership and will provide them with a car adapted to US racing rules,
and look forward to seeing the GTC make its marque in Grand-Am."